Temporary Occupants - Revisited

Eastfield College Department of Visual Arts

Second Installment of "Temporary Occupants"

April 8 - May 6, 2011

(Temporary Occupants - PR Image. Photo credit: Iris Bechtol )

The PR for this event announced:

"Artists have been invited to create temporary site referential responses to various spaces in and around the campus.  These individual projects encourage viewers to reconsider the notion of artistic "space" and how works are to be presented and viewed.  Temporary Occupants presents art objects as situations to be discovered rather than viewed in any formal or expected way.  Artists include

Courtney Brown, Mickey Bruce, Matt Clark,

Kristen Cochran, C.J. Davis, Lanie Delay,

Eric Eley, Lance Jones, Justin Shull,

Sunny Sliger and Marianne Newsom,

Sour Grapes,

Jenny Vogel, Lizzy Wetzel and Kathy Windrow."

I attended the reception on Saturday, April 9 starting at 6p.  It was one of those absolutely beautiful Spring evenings in Dallas.  Not hot and humid, not chilly, just perfect.  They served the most delicious and huge tacos from Good 2 Go Taco.  DJ Jeff Ross spun records as we ate and mingled before we each headed out to roam the campus to locate all of the work.

I'm posting some pictures I took that lovely evening.  Unfortunately, I never found the pond on the out skirts of the campus to see Eric Eley's installation. Too bad for me, because I have loved his sculptures that I've seen at Richland College and Platform Gallery of Seattle. (They represent a number of artists that I admire, but have not yet collected - hmmmmm)

First, pictures of the curators Iris Bechtol and David Willburn

Iris is on the left, C.J. Davis is on the right.  Two other roaming spectators are in the middle.

catching David in motion

I caught these two of three performers working at C.J. Davis' performance piece.  Three men - Black, Latino, and White - raking gravel. Wish I had captured a video.

Lizzy Wetzel laid out a multi-colored line of sand in the window insets the line the walkway between buildings H and L.  C.J.'s raking guys were in the gravel beds adjacent to Lizzy's installation.  Lizzy's work is still laying in place, though somewhat faded these two months later.  Yet still intriguing.

In the main quad with the tacos and music, I next encountered  Justin Shull's work.  A large trailer covered in artificial Christmas tree branches that had a birdsong audio track playing softly.  Cozy miniature library inside.

Also in the quad was this interactive installation by Mickey Bruce.  There were a couple more of these installations inside buildings on campus, but I only located this one.  Mickey made these little fingerprint clay sculptures and placed them on the wooden shelves that he also made.  The idea was to pick up one of the clay sculptures and replace with an item of your own choosing.  Temporary Occupants indeed!  I am still enjoying the little piece of the experience that I brought home to the studio.

Beyond the quad to the other side of building C, I encountered this installation by Sunny Sliger and Marianne Newsom.  These colorful streamers were fluttering gently in the balmy breezes.  I felt transported to a tropical island hula dance in the wind.

This large sculpture by Dallas street artists collective Sour Grapes is located above the fireplace in the Campus Center.  It remains to this day overseeing the students as they study and dine.

Matt Clark covered this picnic table in brown fake fur.

Kristen Cochran's interactive "high-five" installation sat in the middle of this busy sky walk.  It was friendly in a non-human sort of way.

Just beyond Kristen's installation I found this video by Jenny Vogel in front of the campus art gallery, Gallery 219.  It is an eerie apparition staged in the Eastfield College Music Practice Room then screened on a tv in another location of the same building.  "The viewer is left to wonder if, when and how the event took place.  Located somewhere between beauty and terror the project uses technological processes not to explain, but to establish the uncanny."  It reminded me of scenes from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Kathy Windrow's installation consisted of rain gutter, pink tape and flags, sawhorses and stryofoam.  I wonder if this references equipment used on her archeological digs.

lanie Delay's 'Hot Freak (Party Elevator)' lived up to its name, even if it was a one floor ride.  What a ride!  Blaring disco music, metalic streamers, two party girls showing every rider a good time.  I wanted to be glittered, but they painted one of my thumbnails bright whore red instead - poorly.  This wasn't a nail salon after all!  I laughed all night and used Goo-Gone the next morning to get it off.

Lance Jones installed this vinyl print of a chandelier in a narrow hallway behind the stage in the Performance Hall.  The wall is about 30 feet high.  Lance said he was very nervous installing this piece.  It was dizzying to view, but worth the extra effort to find the space and quietly view while a performance was in progress.

I realize, now, that I missed several of the works around campus including that of Courtney Brown.  Lizzy states on her website that she created three installations around campus, but I only found the one.  All in all, it was a great evening of an adventure in art.  I have works by David Wilburn, Lance Jones and Matt Clark in my collection, so it was exciting to see what they each curated or created for this evening.  As the sun set behind building G, I headed home.  Perfectly beautiful evening of art.